Spinning top



Oct.'21, 1952 w. F. DARDEN 2,614,364

SPINNING TOP Filed Nov. '7, 1946 Inventor Ila/law 1. Daniel:

Patented Oct. 21, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SPINNING TOP Wallace F. Darden, Springfield, Tenn.

Application November 7, 1946, Serial No. 708,288

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a spinning top and has for its primary object to afl'ord entertainment and amusement for children and others.

An object is to preserve the balance of such a top and enable it to be spun on either end about a common axis.

The above and other objects may be attained by employing this invention which embodies among its features a pair of opposed substantially conical bodies of identical size and weight, a concentric stem joining the bases of the bodies concentric about the axes of the bodies and a spinning tip at the apex of each body.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a top embodying the features of this invention,

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view through the top, and

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, the top is formed of two substantially conical bodies designated generally Ill each carrying a spinning tip II at its apex, and the bases of the bodies are connected together but are retained in spaced parallel relation by means of a stem designated generally l2.

Each body l comprises a hollow conical element l3 formed of sheet metal adjacent the periphery of which is formed a substantially frustoconical flange l4 to the outer end of which is secured a cap I5 held in place by an annular flange l6. As shown the stem |2 comprises a tubular member opposite ends of which are received in centrally disposed openings |8 in the caps IS, the axes of which align with the axes of the tips so that the tubular body I! lies concentric about the longitudinal axis of the top. Opposite ends I9 of the tubular member I! are flanged outwardly as illustrated in Figure 2 in order securely to hold the caps IS in properly spaced relation to form an annular groove 20 in which a spinning cord or string 2| is adapted to be received.

In use, it will be understood that the cord 2| is wound in the groove 20 upon the stem l2 and by holding the opposite end of the cord 2| and throwing the top, the cord will unwind from the stem |2 thus causing the top to spin about its longitudinal axis with which the axes of the spinning tips align. Lighting upon a surface, either of the points II will serve as the point 2 about which the spinning takes place, and the gyroscopic action will retain the top invmotion about a vertical axis, so long as the spinning force remains active.

Due to the balance of the conical members III which are of uniform size and weight it will be obvious that the working of any force upon the top other than the gyroscopic action will be avoided.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor,

changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

A double ended spinning top comprising a pair of coextensive circular disks each having a central opening extending therethrough, a perpendicular annular flange at the periphery of each disk, said flanges extending in opposite directions from one another, a tubular stem, opposite ends of said stem extending through the central openings in the disks and frictionally engaging the walls of said openings to hold the disks in spaced parallel relation, outwardly extending annular flanges at opposite ends of the tubular stem to lock the disks on said stem, conical caps adjacent the outer face of each disk, a spinning point at the apex of each cap aligning axially with the tubular stem and a substantially frustoconical flange at the base of each cap seated against the outer face of an adjacent disk and friskctionally engaging the annular flangeon said di WALLACE F. DARDEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS France Jan. 21, 19 33 

